Another race where we picked the lesser evil

In my home state of Wyoming at the dawn of the 20th century, there was a surfeit of what were politely referred to as "bachelor cowboys."

It wasn't that these old boys didn't like women; in fact, they loved them, every chance they got. The problem was that there just weren't enough women to go around, and by some estimates there were three available men for every available woman.

Interesting factoid: Wyoming is known as the Equality State because it was the first territory to give women the right to vote in 1869, long before the national women's suffrage movement. They didn't do this because they were sociologically advanced. They did it because it was the only way to get enough voters on the rolls to qualify for statehood.

At any rate, being optimistic and desperate, lots of these lonely cowpokes ordered mail-order brides. The guy would write away to the marital equivalent of the Sears Roebuck catalog, and in time a dusty and bone-tired bride-to-be would arrive on the train.

A lot of these marriages turned out happy, but lots of them didn't. When asked why he married the mail-order bride who eventually shot him in the leg, one cowboy explained that as mean as his wife turned out to be, "At least she was better than nothin'. It wasn't like I had a whole herd to pick from."

By the time this column sees print, the New Jersey governor's race will be decided and either Christopher Christie or Jon S. Corzine will be on his way to Drumthwacket (golly, I love that word). Chris Daggett will be licking his wounds, but happy he could be a spoiler for somebody.

As of the morning I wrote this, Corzine and Christie were in a dead heat and the race was too close to call. It was a tough one for me personally. I loved what Christie did as a U.S. attorney, but I ultimately could not abide his stand on women's issues and health care. And he took too many cheap shots in his advertising, as did Corzine. The ad criticizing Corzine for paying no New Jersey taxes last year was the capper. He forgot to mention that Corzine only takes $1 a year in salary. What was he supposed to do, send in a check for a dime?

But I didn't feel happy about my decision. In fact, for the last couple of months, I felt like that old cowboy when he said that as awful as she turned out to be, his mean wife was better than nothin'. I guess our new governor is better than nothin', but just barely.

Once again, we voters in New Jersey voted on the basis of which candidate was the lesser of two evils. Or as Dave Barry might have said, the lesser of two weasels.

Isn't it about time we had a candidate around here who could actually inspire us? Somebody we could feel good about? Somebody we didn't have to hold our noses to vote for?

I know that it's all about money these days and the guy or gal with the most money to throw around during the campaign usually wins. As of last week, Corzine's campaign had spent $23.6 million of the $24.1 million he loaned the campaign from his own personal bank account. Christie, who reported raising $11.7 million, much of it from special interests, had spent about $8.8 million as of last week. Daggett, who raised about $1.3 million, had spent about $1.2 million of it as of last week, leaving him little to carry him down the home stretch.

Which means that if they spent all the money available in the days before the election, this trio will have cumulatively spent around $37 million to become the governor of New Jersey.

Think about that for a minute. If that sum doesn't give you a case of the shivering fantods, it certainly ought to. All that money just to convince us that one of them wasn't quite as big a stinker as the other two.

We need a hero in this state. If not a hero, at least somebody who doesn't skeeve us out when we go to the polls.

Maybe Newark Mayor Cory Booker ought to run for governor.

I don't know his politics in depth, but what I've heard so far has impressed me. I also know he's qualified in many areas voters consider important. He's smart; he was a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from Yale with a law degree. He was an All-American football player.

He's personable and funny, and if you saw his "battle" with Conan O'Brien on television, you know what I'm talking about. I laughed at his humor, which is more than I can say for Jay Leno, after watching his new prime-time disaster (as Dave Simpson would say, "Where funny?") He's energetic and erudite and self-deprecating. He's a staunch defender of his city and his constituents. He knows what it means to lead a troubled community.

Since he took office, crime is down and Newark's finances are looking better, although they still have a long way to go. He doesn't have a lot of political baggage, and as far as I know, he's not in the pocket of special interests.

If nothing else, at least he'd be a candidate we could respect and maybe even look up to.

Sure, he might have difficulty raising enough money to campaign, but what do you say, Cory? Will you think about giving it a shot?

Or maybe there's somebody else out there I don't know about yet. I'll throw it out to the readers.

If you were in a fantasy league and drafting a couple of gubernatorial candidates for 2014, who would you pick?

Drop me a line and let me know. Who knows, maybe we can draft a winner that doesn't make us feel like some of those unhappy mail-order grooms. One that doesn't shoot us in the legs after we've tied the knot. Or swipe all the money we've stashed under the mattress because we obviously can't trust banks.

Gregory Bean is the former executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at gbean@gmnews.com.